Tekgrrl (33 page)

Paul stepped up behind and wrapped his arms around me.

I sighed. “There’s nothing we can do now, is there?”

“Not yet,” he agreed. “We don’t have spaceships equipped with the appropriate weapons yet.”

“Maybe we should invent some.”

“I’ll get right on that.” He noticed how tense my body was. “What about you? Is he talking to you?”

“All’s very silent,” I reported. “I get the sense that he’s here, and if I push I can almost make out some words, but I’m afraid. Because if I can hear him, he can likely hear me, and I don’t want him getting an inkling of our thoughts.”

“Good idea,” Paul said. “And probably similar to what he’s thinking.”

Wesley waved his hand from the side of the room, where he was monitoring the communications from the Kalybri ships. “It’s starting.”

Selena burst into the war room with Simon trailing after her. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stall him anymore.”

“What are you doing here, Simon?” Paul growled.

“Look, I know things are a little tense between our two teams…” Simon held up his hands as if to ward off blows.

“’A little tense’?” Paul shook his head. “That’s like saying we might have a little problem if the Vyqang make their way through the Kalybri defenses.”

“Exactly,” Simon said. “My people and I, we just want to help.”

“Your
remaining
people, you mean—and ‘try to save face’ is more like it,” Kate spat. “You helped start this mess.”

“Well, maybe I want to try to help clean it up,” Simon blasted. “But you won’t let me.”

“You made the government believe we were practically villains while you were inadvertently working with the real villains. Again,” Wesley said. “Pardon us for not trusting you with our plan. But if you want to help, we’ll put you on the front line should the time come.”

“I’m going to head down there,” Paul spoke up. “Gather the teams already assembling down there and start coming up with a plan of attack. You’re welcome to join me,” he said to Simon.

“I’ll head down as well,” Kate said.

“Everyone make sure you keep a communicator on at all times,” Wesley ordered, tossing one to each of us. The devices were some of the inventions that had survived the fire sale. “We need to maintain contact.”

“I’m here on babysitting duty and manning home base,” Lainey said. “I’ll be helping coordinate everyone once Wesley heads down.”

“When I show up, it pretty much means things have gone south with the Kalybri,” Wesley pointed out. “I’d like for each of us to head up an assault team of the other heroes who have volunteered, so Lainey knows where each of those teams is at all times.”

“Does that include me?” Simon asked. “Do I get to lead one?”

“Don’t push it,” Paul said.

“I used to be a member of this team,” Simon sniffed.

“’Used to’ being the operative words.”

“Bicker later,” Wesley said. “Get down there.”

Paul stepped over and took me by the shoulders. “Be careful up there,” he said.

“You be careful down there.” My heart was pounding. Neither of our courses was safe. It was likely that one or both of us could die. I suddenly felt the urge to grab hold of him and never let go.

He must have been feeling the same, for he pulled me close, hugging me tight and burying his face in my hair. “I love you so much,” he whispered.

“I love you too.” I kissed him hard, pouring everything I had in that one kiss—in case it was our last. How unfair that we had found each other so late. “Please come back to me.”

“I’ll try my best. You do the same.” He kissed my lips and then turned away quickly, changing from my Paul to our hardened leader. “Let’s go, people.” He strode off, at the head of Simon, Kate, Selena and Toby. They were going into battle.

I shivered, hoping that wasn’t the last sight I’d ever have of him. And then I noticed the light seemed to dim outside, like the day had gotten suddenly cloudy. And I had an uncomfortable flashback to my last day back on Kalybri.

“They’re here,” I whispered. “It’s one of their ships. One of them must have gotten through the Kalybri’s defenses. They’ve hit atmosphere.”

Just as the alarms screamed to life and everybody jumped to action, the almost whispering voice in the back of my mind turned into a bone-jarring shriek. I could vaguely hear Lainey calling out orders to the teams as Wesley scrambled to help others. Cyrus’s fingers flew across the keyboard of his laptop…and someone pushed against my brain.

Mindy,
the voice roared in my head. The voice of the Vyqang leader, my son.
Come out and watch the destruction of your planet.

Why don’t you be a man and face me yourself, you big coward?
I thought back at him.
This is between us, not the rest of the people on Earth.

No, but it will hurt you to see them destroyed.

Don’t you want to see that pain yourself? You’ll have to face me to do that.

So you can try to destroy me? I don’t think so.

Don’t you want to see me? Your own mother?

We are the Vyqang. We spring from the loins of our battleships, not from feeble female bodies.
He sounded affronted.

Fantazia had walked over to me, sensed my interaction. “Concentrate, Mindy,” she said, placing her hands on either side of my head. “Show me where he is.”

I tried to zero in on him, my son, on a ship hovering over our planet, overseeing this battle, his dark blue eyes glittering in the darkness.

What are you doing?
he hissed.
I can feel you pressing against my mind. What are you doing?

“Got it!” Fantazia crowed, and she threw powder into the air and began the teleportation spell.

Luke stepped up and handed me my weapons belt. “Let’s do this,” he said.

I could hear Fantazia’s chanted Italian and my nerves felt raw with fear and adrenaline.

I’m coming to visit, Dunvyn,
I said, his name suddenly coming to mind. Why had it not come earlier?

Fantazia’s hand clamped down on my arm and Luke’s. The familiar surroundings of the Elite Hands of Justice headquarters disappeared.

We appeared in shiny steel corridors similar to the memories-slash-nightmares of my past. Strange Klaxons blared, and the air felt strange, cool and clammy. Almost thick.

“Should we be breathing this in?” Luke asked.

“I did before, so you should be fine,” I said. I prayed I was right.

The ship shuddered under our feet and we all swayed; it had clearly taken a hit from a Kalybri craft. We heard the Vyqang ship return fire. Growling language sounded over the intercom, and though I couldn’t translate, my link with my child told me what it meant. More of our enemy were transporting down to the Earth’s surface.

My mind was buzzing like a beehive. He was here. He was close by. Dunvyn.

Apparently, he was experiencing similar thoughts, because the door opened and four large Vyqang armed with some sort of blasters came barreling forward.

Fantazia immediately sprang into action, snapping something in Italian and pointing a finger at the guards. Their guns became useless, and they looked nonplussed as they pulled the triggers to no effect. Luke took advantage of the momentary confusion to attack, screaming and charging forward. The Vyqang stumbled back, horror crossing their faces as Fantazia followed her previous spell with lightning bolts.

“I hope Cyrus is doing his job,” she snapped, ducking as a guard swung at her. “Go, Mindy!”

“Let’s show them how Earth defends itself,” Luke was snarling, attacking the disarmed guards, who were now going for the blades attached to their sides and backs. Before they could reach them, Luke snatched them away in a blur of agility.

I shocked the closest guard with the small disk in my palm, but gasped as more foes appeared from the far door. “Fantazia!” I focused my emotions and energy into a small concussive telekinetic blast. It worked! Two went flying into the wall, hard, and I thought I could hear the sounds of their necks breaking. The remaining guard swiveled his gun. I had no time to react except for Paul’s shield.

The blast hit the shield, and it held, but there was some feedback in the form of heat. It felt like getting a burn from the door of hot oven. I winced but knew it was better than the alternative. I didn’t particularly want to be in the oven itself.

“I see them!” Fantazia quick-fired some Italian, and these guards too lost their guns.

But not before one of them got a shot off. The laser caught Luke in the back. I screamed in horror.

“Just…go…” he grunted, ripping a dagger off the belt of a Vyqang and immediately stabbing the blade up into the alien’s stomach.

“Take out the leader one way or another, Mindy,” Fantazia ordered, before hissing some Italian. The guards blocking the door were instantly thrown backward and into the wall.

I ran at full speed at the door and punched the button with my mind. The doors swung open and then closed just after I dove through, leaving my friends to battle alone behind me. And…I was face-to-face with my son.

The guards sitting around the captain’s chair immediately pointed their guns at me. I stood immobile, arms up, trying to act like I meant no harm.

“Drop your weapons,” a familiar voice said in English. I fumbled to drop my belt to the floor. “Kick them over this way.” I did so. Dunvyn growled something to his men and they stood down, going back to watching the battles outside and on Earth on the myriad screens around the room.

I was struck by how human he seemed. Dark hair, those dark blue eyes, and weirdly enough, he looked a bit like my father, which hit me like a knife to my gut. That similarity made everything all the more real. But there were also alien features when you looked hard enough. His eyes were just a little too blue, his fingers were too long, and the way he moved was just a little too fast, almost like his joints weren’t proper.

“So, you’re her,” he said in heavily accented English, surveying me. “So weak. So frail. So…human.”

“You’re a bit human yourself,” I retorted.

He frowned. “We all have our problems. I have paid for the weakness in my bloodline for years. I have fought and struggled to get to where I am today.” He spread his arms wide. “And now I am a leader among my people. I could take a seat of power amongst our kind. But first I must make a display of power, show that I am willing to eradicate my past forever.”

“And that means destroying the Earth,” I said.

“Not even the Kalybri and your people can stop us,” he agreed.

“The Kalybri stopped your people before,” I mentioned.

“The Kalybri never faced me,” he replied. “Now…
Mother
.” He spat the last word. “Should I make you watch your world’s destruction before you face your own?”

“Dunvyn, I’m here to give you a chance, and I suggest you take it,” I said. “The humans have great weapons that they have pointed at your ships. They will destroy you, there’s no question about it. Unless you turn around and leave. Never return.”

Dunvyn looked at the rest of the Vyqang and laughed. He growled something to them in their language and then turned to me. “Do you know what I just said? Did our mind link translate for you?”

I nodded. “You said for them to prepare to launch the spear, but I don’t know what that means.”

The ship vibrated so violently I thought it was going to blow up. I wasn’t sure if that wasn’t a good thing.

“The spear will drill down to your planet’s core. It will rip through your world and knock it out of its proper orbit. The Earth will smash into neighboring planets and eventually your sun, destroying everything. Of course, we will first have taken what we need—probably not much of anything.”

“Dunvyn, you don’t have to do this,” I said. “Take your people and just go peacefully.”

He laughed. “No. We are Vyqang. We never ‘go peacefully.’”

A sudden turmoil sounded. “Sir, our defense systems have just crashed!” one of the Vyqang said in his language.

“Go Cyrus,” I breathed.

Dunvyn whirled. “What have you done?” he snarled.

“Spear is launched, but its guidance systems are off as well,” another Vyqang spoke up.

“Weapons systems are down to fifty percent,” added another. “And the Kalybri are still out there!”

“And human attack satellites as well.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” I said. “You’ve only known the Vyqang way of life, all destruction and chaos. I know that, but you…” My stomach roiled, but I continued. “You’re part of me too. Part human. And humans create and explore. You’re more than just a Vyqang.”

He glared at me. “There is nothing more than Vyqang. You are lesser. And we will win no matter what.”

“No,” I said softly. “No, you won’t. And if only you’d—”

Any other words were cut off by what felt like an electric sword stabbing through my brain. Dunvyn glared at me. “I’m going to melt your brain inside your skull, bitch!”

I fought back with my telekinesis, as hard as I could, trying to push him away even as I could feel him dig deeper, almost like with razor-sharp nails. I pushed with everything I had in me; every thought, every emotion, every feeling inside I channeled into one thought directed at him.

Stop this.

It wasn’t enough. He was stronger than me. I could tell, even as I struggled against him. He had more power than me. He was genetically modified to be the perfect soldier, to be stronger than anyone. As much as I struggled, I was going to weaken. And then, he would win.

“Sir, kill her quickly. We need to get off this ship,” one of the other Vyqang said. “We’re losing stability.”

“So go,” Dunvyn snarled. “Take the transport over to the
Draken
.” His men took him at his word and hurried off, heading out another door at the back. Dunvyn looked down at me, where I was kneeling on the floor in agony. “You see, Mindy, the Kalybri might blow up this ship eventually, with you still on it, your brains fried,” he growled. “But you seriously don’t think we build our ships without escape pods, do you? I’ll escape, and I’ll bring back more men and more weapons and your planet will be incinerated. It will never end until I succeed!”